Although he tries to portray himself as pro-military, President Trump has a history of making disrespectful comments towards those in the military. It is abhorrent for anyone to publicly and shamelessly make these comments, and it’s even more damaging to hear them from someone who is supposed to be representing our country.

In 2018, Trump cancelled a visit he had planned to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Paris. Trump initially blamed outside factors such as rain, helicopter difficulties and conflicts with the Secret Service as his reasons to cancel. However, it was later stated by four different sources with firsthand information that Trump was actually concerned his hair would become unkempt in the rain.

In addition to the cancellation of his visit, Trump then began to make disrespectful comments about the soldiers who had died and were buried in the cemetery. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump said. He remarked again later in the day that the approximately 1,800 soldiers that died at Belleau Wood were “suckers” because they were killed. Despite these accounts of Trump making these comments, he has said the allegations are “totally false.” He also referred to the report made by The Atlantic as “a disgraceful situation” and called it “a terrible magazine”. 

Despite the strong evidence that Trump did in fact make these comments, some people from the military expressed their skepticism regarding the allegations and attempted to defend Trump.

“I don’t believe it,” U.S. Army Private at Ft. Benning Theron Martin said. “I think people are trying to throw dirt on him. It’s an election year.” A military captain with the last name Smith also said, “I think that in this era of ‘gotcha’ journalism, this is clearly a move to try to discredit the president.”

While doubt regarding the media can sometimes be natural, Trump’s history and previous behavior suggests that he is perfectly capable of making comments like these. 

Despite his denial of making the alleged 2018 comments, Trump’s past and current actions suggest something different regarding his opinions on those in the military. Last Monday it was said that Trump made a comment saying that leaders of the Pentagon “want to do nothing but fight wars.” In addition to this, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward recently alleged in his new book “Rage” that Trump used very vulgar and inappropriate language regarding his generals when speaking with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro. These allegations by Woodward show more evidence of Trump’s pattern of disrespecting the military, which makes it even more believable that Trump did make the comments. 

For the President of the United States to speak in this manner is absolutely appalling. For a president who claims to be pro-military , these comments are extremely insensitive. Even if Trump is being truthful when denying making these comments, his history of disrespectful comments toward the military and  lying about what he has said both need to be called out. It’s very likely that Trump did make these comments, and therefore he should be held accountable.